EBRD with 60 million and Erste Bank with 10 million euros promote energy efficiency in residential buildings

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has secured a credit line of 60 million euros through the REENOVA+ program to encourage investments in energy efficiency in the residential sector in Croatia, and Erste Bank has joined this program with an additional 10 million euros, said EBRD’s Director for Croatia, Vedrana Jelušić Kašić, on Friday.

REENOVA+ is EBRD’s financing program that aims to increase investments in eligible products for reducing energy consumption through loans from commercial banks for homeowners, apartments, or residential buildings up to 50,000 euros, along with technical support.

Eligible products for financing through this program include energy-efficient windows, thermal insulation for walls and roofs, heating systems, boilers, air conditioners, heat pumps, solar thermal systems, and energy-efficient household appliances. These products and their suppliers were assessed before being included in the program, and they can be found in the List of Energy-Efficient Products, or the online search tool for these products on the REENOVA+ program’s website.

To make these products more accessible, suppliers, manufacturers, retail stores, and installers can also obtain loans under this program, up to 2.5 million euros, intended for, for example, increasing stock or offering better market conditions in sales.

Additionally, Jelušić Kašić emphasized at a workshop held as part of the REENOVA+ program, co-organized with the Croatian Chamber of Economy, that suppliers are also given the opportunity to participate in similar programs in more than 20 other countries.

Energy efficiency is one of the key areas of EBRD’s operations in all 37 countries where it operates. Similar programs like REENOVA+ are present in 25 other countries, where the Bank has participated in financing approximately 110,000 energy efficiency projects worth nearly 4 billion euros, Jelušić Kašić stated.

For Croatia, EBRD has secured 60 million euros, which will be available through loans from commercial banks. So far, only Erste&Steiermaerkische Bank has joined the program, adding its 10 million euros for the same purpose, but several other banks have expressed interest in participating, negotiations are still ongoing, Jelušić Kašić highlighted.

At the workshop, it was also reported that for various energy efficiency projects, the Croatian Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund approved 960 million kuna in 2015 alone, thereby stimulating investments worth over 2 billion kuna. Currently, a public call for energy renovation of buildings is underway, announced in collaboration with the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, worth 152 million kuna.